


Jet Lag

by trainmaker



Series: trainverse [1]
Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Confessions, Cooking, Crushes, First Kiss, First Meetings, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Sharing Clothes, Sharing a Bed, Star Gazing, Train Rides
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-12 00:27:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29501295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trainmaker/pseuds/trainmaker
Summary: a humble ranboo and tubbo meet up ficcomplete :)
Relationships: Ranboo/Toby Smith | Tubbo
Series: trainverse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2171160
Comments: 93
Kudos: 777





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this is and always will be fluff  
> ive never posted fic or anything at all cause im afraid so i hope i dont regret this.

The flight from the US to the UK was objectively beautiful. Ranboo pressed a hand to the thick glass of the window. It had been over ten hours and his legs were cramping up. Two kinds of desperation clawed at him: One to see his friends and the other to simply escape the claustrophobic cabin in the sky. He snapped a picture of the clouds outside his window and tweeted it with a smile for the caption. He slid his phone back into his pocket, unwilling to watch the chaos unfold.

It had happened one night, late for Ranboo and later for Tubbo. They were making that same joke where Ranboo offered to meet him upstairs, and once stream ended Tubbo just spammed him with links to flights. They'd nixed every meet-up idea thus far because work visas and pandemic and leases and all sorts of nonsense. But Tubbo convinced him that if he just came for two weeks, it would be fine. It would be better in fact. They could see how they worked in person before they were shut up in an apartment with Tommy for the foreseeable future. And maybe they could look at some places before he left. It had Ranboo's leg shaking just thinking about it.

He worried that if they met, when they met, it would making leaving so much harder. That once he had to board the plane again, he wouldn't want to. His sleeping schedule was already fucked, an obvious symptom of longing. Ranboo ran a hand through his hair, trying to focus on the movie playing in the background. The in-flight entertainment screen was tiny and blurry. It was animated. There was a musical montage happening. 

He pulled out his phone instead and flicked through notifications. There were a lot of exclamation marks and reaction pics. At the top, however, was Tubbo's reply. A matching smile.  
-

Tubbo looked so tiny at the bottom of the escalator. He was alone and staring and had clearly spotted Ranboo long before he had. If Ranboo were braver he would have run down the thing and tackled his friend like all those videos he'd seen. But they were in public and Ranboo never quite shook the nervousness that came with being friends with Tubbo. It was a sea-sick kind of feeling that he'd held onto since their first call. As he descended, infinitely slow, down the escalator, Tubbo trotted right up to the end. He was clearly buzzing with excitement, it came off in waves like static. Ranboo was reminded of a cat with twitching whiskers.

Tubbo crashed into him as he stepped off, and Ranboo backed him up to make room for the other passengers. He didn't have the choice to be embarrassed because Tubbo was rocking from toe to toe and talking into his sweatshirt. Ranboo couldn't hear him and realized belatedly that his headphones were still on. He pulled them down.

"—was it okay? Did they give you peanuts? I can't believe you're here."

"Hi Tubbo." Ranboo breathed into his dark hair.

“Hi." And Tubbo was peering up at him, grinning ear to ear. "Let’s go.” He said, cheek pressed into his shoulder. It was the awkward, warm feeling of meeting someone who you already knew entirely too well. Of feeling the person under your hands who you'd only seen through a screen. Tubbo finally released him and took Ranboo's suitcase where it was abandoned beside them.

“Someone's eager.” Ranboo huffed.

“I won’t deny it.”

Ranboo wished he had worn his mask. “Good, then I won’t either.” He knew he was blushing.

“C'mon we can stream as soon as we're home.”

Ranboo groaned.

“Or maybe not.” Tubbo amended.  
-  
Tubbo was bent over his new laptop, knees propped up as he typed. He was editing together footage from their meeting, shaky phone videos and clips that his family had cobbled together. The first moment was their own though, they hadn't filmed it. Ranboo was unwilling to wear a mask for the plane ride and part of him selfishly wanted it for himself. He loved his viewers, but there was a reason he kept so much of his life private.

Ranboo's suitcase was open on the floor, clothes already strewn across the carpet. He'd showered and changed out of his airport clothes, too tired to put them away. Tubbo's knee brushed his thigh every time he clicked his trackpad, and Ranboo wanted to pull his hood up and hide. Instead he studied the freckles across Tubbo's cheek. 

"Alright?" Tubbo said, gaze drawn from the screen. 

"Mhm." 

"'M almost done. Then we can watch Grey's Anatomy." 

"'Kay."

Tubbo fixed him with a look. "Practically non-verbal, man. You sure?"

"Jet-lag." Ranboo mumbled, proving his point. 

"We could skip Grey's if you want, just sleep?" Tubbo closed the editing software and set the laptop to the side.

"No. No, I'm good for it. I'm good for it." Ranboo said, doing his best to perk up.

"Alright then." Tubbo said then reached across the bed for Ranboo's discarded airport hoodie. "You don't mind?" He said though he was already shrugging it on. 

Ranboo made a noncommittal noise and stared at Tubbo's hands as he pressed buttons on the remote. The sleeves threatened to spill over his fingers and Ranboo knew he was staring. And then Grey's Anatomy was on and Tubbo was flicking off his bedside lamp.

"So, Meredith's just got this new resident and—" Ranboo let Tubbo explain what he had missed. Halfway between the second episode and the third, he was out. Tubbo's voice broke through a couple times as he commentated, startled by new drama or operations gone wrong. 

"Oh," Tubbo's voice was soft. "You've gone to sleep." 

"Yeah," Ranboo said, blinking up at him. He was very much asleep.

"Jet-lag." Tubbo said.

"Jet-lag."

And then the sheets were drawn up around him and the TV quieted.

"G'night Boo."


	2. Chapter 2

Ranboo had a carefully maintained file of the things he loved about each of his friends. Every time one of them did something that made his heart warm, he pocketed it away for later. For the days when the internet was too much and there was nobody there to talk to about it. He could remember the way Tommy's teasing was the best indication of true affection, Niki's quiet check-ins and Tubbo's floodlight attention. Sometime around December, it had switched onto him and hadn't stopped. Every time he started to stream, Tubbo was in his ear, voice rusty with sleep over discord. 

Being with Tubbo in-person meant that the section dedicated to him had expanded exponentially. He talked without caring if Ranboo was listening, not out of arrogance but out of blind faith. He trusted him to listen anyways. And Ranboo did. He liked staying up late, even without somebody to stay up for. Ranboo had mistakenly thought that Tubbo's sleep schedule was his doing, but realized quickly that he was just a bonus for him. When Ranboo's eyes drooped and he sagged against the pillows, Tubbo just flicked the TV off and switched to his phone without a protest. He didn't fold to Ranboo's tired yawns, he accepted them. His hair was wavier than he'd thought. When Tubbo came out in PJs, freshly showered, it curled at the ends. And his fingers were long, good for piano and pointing out seagulls on their way home from the airport. 

There was one thing, however, that drove him absolutely nuts. It had been two days, and Ranboo was hoping to be back on track. The meet-up video would be going live soon and they had planned a game of bomb diffuser to reveal it. When he woke that second morning he realized rather abruptly that it was not morning at all.

The golden light of evening filtered in through Tubbo's blinds, painting the rumpled bed in stripes. Tubbo himself was nowhere to be seen, but when Ranboo pressed his nose to the pillow, he could still smell him. It was oatmeal and honey and Tubbo. 

He ceded himself to waking up, nose scrunching at the awful feeling of stiff limbs and pillow creases. It was well past the time he'd set for his alarm, but his phone lay where he left it on the bedside table. He scooped it up and flicked through to the clock app. His alarm was nowhere to be seen.

"Tubbo." He rasped out, scrubbing a hand over his face. 

"Hm?" Tubbo's head appeared in the doorway that led to the bathroom. He had a toothbrush in his mouth and froth smudged on his lips. 

"Why is it 4pm?"

Tubbo disappeared again and he reappeared after the tap ran. "We slept in." He said as he crawled back onto his side of the bed. 

"I set an alarm. The vlog." Ranboo let his voice land on the side of whiney. There was still froth on Tubbo's bottom lip.

"Yeah, yeah. You were so tired though. Didn't want to wake you!" Tubbo's cheer chipped at Ranboo's annoyance.

"You're a menace you know. You're such a menace." He sighed and reached out to swipe his thumb across the offending toothpaste.

Tubbo scooted off the bed again. "Yes, I am. An evil mastermind who knows your password is herobrine and disables your alarm." He plucked up the sweatshirt he'd staked his claim on.

Ranboo gave up the charade of anger and stretched his arms over his head. They could still make a day of it. Tubbo cleared his throat and Ranboo glanced over. "Yeah?"

"Uh." Tubbo's nervous grin struck Ranboo like liquid sunlight. "Shall we still upload it now?" 

"Mhm, yeah," Ranboo said and peeled back the covers. He wiggled his toes for a second, trying to feel alive.

He carefully filed away in a special section, part annoyance, part endearment, the way that Tubbo let him sleep in. 

-

They uploaded it, then streamed bomb diffuser. Ranboo pulled out the bound copy he packed in his suitcase and wore the dumb mask and Tubbo teased the hell out of him. They borrowed Lani's chair and crowded around Tubbo's suddenly too-small desk. Their knees knocked, and they fought over camera angles, barely able to keep both of them in the frame. Tubbo threatened to just sit on him if he was going to be a bother and Ranboo shut up quickly. 

It was nerve-wracking and exhilarating and so much better in real life.

"Let's fucking go!" Tubbo screeched when they won, and it was so different when they were in the same room. 

"Let's go!" Ranboo echoed, caught up in the way Tubbo bounced in his chair. He abandoned it altogether and leapt around the streaming room. Ranboo swivelled his chair to watch.

"That was awesome." Tubbo beamed and used his hands to swivel Ranboo back round. He leaned over the headrest and let his arms drape around his shoulders. "We're so fucking good at this." 

"Yeah, we are." Ranboo stared at the tiny viewfinder. Tubbo's shaggy head was tilted just so. Like this, he was finally taller. His eyes flicked to the chat which was exclaiming equally about the win and the familiar black and white sweater Tubbo was wearing. Tubbo leaned forward too to read. 

"Oh yeah boys, Ranboo's lent me this." He said and stepped back to show it. It was less about the way it swamped him and more about the way it was  _ his,  _ Ranboo reasoned. Only that was worse. It made his hands clam up.

Ranboo felt that same selfish desire he'd felt at the airport. To have the moment for himself. 

"Well, guys, I think we're done for the day. Glad you guys enjoyed the stream." Ranboo said, mustering enthusiasm. "I'm sure we'll do tons more before I'm gone."

"Yeah, I've got loads planned. Loads and loads." 

-

"Don't mess with my alarm tomorrow." Ranboo blurted out as soon as Tubbo turned the TV off that night. They were lying face to face, just the bare light of the street-lamps illuminating them. 

Tubbo's brows scrunched. "Why?"

Ranboo didn't want to say. He didn't want to admit that the idea of wasting their time together sleeping is infuriating, that even this close to him, he felt like it wasn't enough. He didn't want to wake up to an empty bed and half their day gone, one step closer to good-bye. 

"I want to make you breakfast." He said instead. "Pancakes. American pancakes." He knew the thin flap-jacks Tubbo was used to, and they were fine, but they weren't the same. 

"Alright then, Boo," Tubbo said. 

"Alright." He replied. "Sleep well."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let me know what you think :] i think i can probably do one more chapter to wrap up if you want


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> pancake moment

Ranboo woke to the sound of running water. It was still the middle of the night, that comfortable darkness shrouding the room. Tubbo was tip-toeing back to bed from the bathroom, his shoulders drawn up as if afraid of the slightest creak. When he saw Ranboo blinking at him he sighed and slid under the covers.

"You know, I was really trying to be quiet." 

"I know."

Ranboo could tell that this wasn't one of those nights where he could just flip his pillow and fall back asleep. Through the blinds, the moon hung full and round. Tubbo's face was washed in moonlight, his hair like spun silver. 

"I've wanted to ask," Tubbo shifted under the covers. "Why do you still keep everything so secret?"

Ranboo frowned a little. It wasn't an unreasonable question, but at that moment the answer eluded him. "Dunno." He wanted to be seen and see in return. To be known perfectly well like the palm of someone's hand. Tubbo's fingers brushed his arm and Ranboo shifted away, not trusting himself.

"But I get to see you," Tubbo said. "You don't mind if it's me?"

"I want you to know everything about me," Ranboo said quietly. The words hung in the night air and he twisted the blankets around his hands. "Like, I just think," He let out a breath. "If it could be someone, I'd want it to be you."

They don't talk about it in the morning. 

Ranboo's alarm went off unperturbed and he got the uncommon privilege of seeing Tubbo rub the sleep out of his eyes. He had cowlicks, so many. Ranboo knew he didn't look much better. His PJs were twisted up from tossing and turning and he could feel the rings forming under his eyes. He hadn't gotten much sleep. It wasn't the stressful kind of insomnia, it was the heart-stirring kind. 

Ranboo familiarized himself with Tubbo's family kitchen and Tubbo tied an apron at his back. His hands settled on his waist just briefly after the bow was pulled and Ranboo grinned into the batter bowl. It was so close and domestic and he hoped that someday he could take this kind of thing for granted. That one day cooking breakfast for his friends wouldn't be a special occasion.

"Let me flip one, you know I'm good. I'm the best." Tubbo whined at his side. He was the perfect height to be a bother, nudging Ranboo's arm with his cheek until he agreed. 

"I'm supposed to be ingratiating myself to you and your family right now."

"Ingrashee...We already think you're great, Ranboo, now hand over the spatula."

"Okay, okay." Ranboo laughed fondly and watched his friend flip with surprising competence.

"You have to eat that one. The one I flipped." Tubbo chirped, clearly proud of himself.

Ranboo showed Tubbo how he liked his with jam and butter and lamented the quality of their syrup. Tubbo just grinned and poured half the bottle onto his stack. 

"This is your gift to me, right? So I'll eat them how I please." Tubbo shoved a forkful of pancake into his mouth.

"Yes, but God," Ranboo groaned, watching syrup pool on his friend's plate. "That's disgusting."

"It's delicious," Tubbo argued and went in for more.

"You're gonna make yourself sick."

"You'd take care of me though, right?"

Tubbo's eyelashes fanned out against his cheek as he cut himself another bite. They were blonde at the tips. "Mhm." Ranboo hummed around a mouthful.

"Then pile on the syrup! I want Ranboo to play nurse for me."

Lani scoffed from where she stood in the kitchen. She was fixing her own plate of pancakes. "You're insufferable." 

"He is, isn't he?" Ranboo agreed readily.

"Hey! Hey. Not fair. Sisters and friends are  _ not _ supposed to team up. So not fair." Tubbo complained. Ranboo reached over and patted Tubbo's head. A cowlick sprung up under his hand. 

"There, there." 

Lani laughed and Ranboo felt something warm bloom in his chest. It was nice being apart of it. Tubbo set his cutlery down with a clatter and grabbed Ranboo's hand. "You have to make it up to me, I'm awfully torn up." He huffed as he tugged Ranboo up from the table.

"Tubbo, the dishes."

"Lani'll do 'em. We made breakfast anyway."

"I will, though I'm surprised you two are even up. I was getting used to having the mornings to myself." Ranboo watched as she cleared up. "Now I have to deal with all your incessant flirting."

And then Ranboo was being yanked up the stairs, too caught up with keeping upright to account for his red cheeks. 

-

"Wear this today." Tubbo shoved the black and white sweater he'd stolen back at Ranboo.

"Why, I thought you were claiming this?" He peered down at Tubbo, whose face slowly colored. There was that same static about him as that first day. Contagious nervous energy.

"I am. I will. Just, you need to wear it." 

Ranboo's eyes narrowed and he took the sweater. "Okay. Alright." He slid it on. He had to steel himself for a second, that honey and oat smell surrounding him so completely. He wondered briefly if Tubbo knew what he smelled like. He pulled the collar up and tucked his nose into it for a second, trying to discern what was Tubbo's and what was his own. 

"What are you doing?" Tubbo's voice was quiet, his hands still outstretched.

"You smell." Ranboo stammered. "Good. You smell good."

"I smell?" And the menacing glint was back in Tubbo's eye. "Can't believe Ranboo, my beloved just said I smell." He cackled.

Ranboo took Tubbo's hand in his. "Good. I said, good." He didn't know why it mattered so much. Tubbo went still beneath his touch. "I like it." Ranboo knew he was blushing; his cheeks were hot and there was a prickly feeling under his skin. 

"See," Tubbo began and he had never heard him so uncertain. "That's why I had to give it back." It didn't quite register in Ranboo's head until "It didn't smell like  _ you  _ anymore."

Ranboo felt like he was floating under Tubbo's charged stare. "Oh."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there's one more chapter i think i could make out of this. do you want that?


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> progress? chommyinnit?

They took the evening train to Tommy's house. Suspended between point A and B, time seemed meaningless. The only indication of time passing was the slow descent of the sun, runny and yellow like an egg yolk. Tubbo was pressed into Ranboo's side, knees pulled up and staring mindlessly out the window. Every few minutes he'd grab Ranboo's hand and exclaim. "Horse!" or "Pig!" or any other creature likely to be found in the English countryside. They rolled by, mere blurs to him. Tubbo was back in his hoodie, handed off silently after a day. He knew they should talk about it, but some part of Ranboo hoped that if they just continued blindly, it would all be fine. The undisclosed closeness could just grow and grow until it didn't matter how much Ranboo wanted from it.

Tubbo leaned further back, wriggling until Ranboo lifted his arm and let him under it. Tubbo arranged Ranboo's arm around him as if it was the most natural thing in the world, and Ranboo thought maybe it could be. Maybe they could just be.

"Ranboo, look out for horses for me, I'm going to check Twitter." He sighed into Ranboo's sleeve.

"Horse alert activated." 

Tubbo scrolled for a few minutes and Ranboo did his duty, stopping only to nudge Tubbo when he spotted one. "We should take a picture," Tubbo said, already swiping to the camera. "They'll go bonkers."

"My mask is in my backpack, Tubbo. My mask is not out." Ranboo felt his heartbeat quicken a little.

"Relax, big man. I'll just cut you out of it. It's a pain to fit you in anyways you fuckin' giraffe." He stretched his arm out, angling the lens until he was satisfied.

"Show me before you post it," Ranboo murmured. "Just to be sure, y'know. Just to be sure." 

Tubbo held the phone up and Ranboo squinted at the display. Tubbo was beaming, hair mussed from travel and very clearly leaning on Ranboo. It cut off at his neck, nothing the viewers hadn't seen before.

"Alright. It's good."

"Do I look pretty?" Tubbo said cheekily.

"Yeah, sure. Very pretty." 

Tubbo hit post and swiped up to refresh as the replies rolled in. Only then did Ranboo realize he had left his hand in frame. He'd completely ignored the arm around Tubbo.

"Uh-Oh. Hand reveal." Tubbo looked up at him quickly. "I didn't even notice. I'm sorry. For real."

Ranboo waited for the panic to rise in his throat. The nauseous feeling he always got before streaming his face-cam or posting tiktoks. It didn't come.

"Uh," He tried.

"Fuck, I've upset you. I should have been more careful. Christ."

"No." Ranboo covered Tubbo's hand with his own, pressing the phone onto his lap. "Relax. It's done." He murmured. "I told you, if it was going to be someone, it'd be you."

Tubbo's smile was watery at best but he nodded. "Okay. Right."

The sun slid further down, casting the fluorescent train carriage in soft golds instead. Tubbo's hand wound around his arm and he returned to his eye-spy. Ranboo felt his heart settle. 

\--

Tommy greeted them at the door, loud and full of questions. Ranboo had never considered himself quiet until he started talking to Tommy. He started to see the ways Tommy included him. Often times it was a well-meaning insult and they made Ranboo smile.

"Can't believe Tubbo's lugged his giant American on a train. Do they even have those where you're from?"

They were crowded around the Wii in Tommy's basement, Tommy on the floor right up close to the old TV, Ranboo in a linty beanbag and Tubbo at his feet. Tubbo was currently creaming them all in Mario Kart.

"We have trains, I think." Ranboo began uncertainly. "Oh, crap." Tubbo as Luigi lapped him, and Ranboo fumbled to throw a shell after him. It crashed into the guard rail, 

"Nice one Ranboob!" Tommy laughed, loud and contagious. "Oh, I like this. Finally someone else for Tubbo to target."

"You miss me red shelling you, Tommy? That can be arranged." Tubbo snickered and Tommy shrieked.

"No! Fuck, no! I'm in third! I'm too young to lose to an American, have some mercy!"

"Perish,"

"That is fucked up! Fucked up!" Tommy grumbled, dropping the controller as he crossed the finish. Luigi cheered in first place while Tommy's Mario and Ranboo's Bowser pouted. "Ranboo I think you're a bad influence on our dear Tubbo. He's being all macho to impress you."

"Baaah, I don't have to impress Ranboo. He made me pancakes yesterday."

"Jesus Christ, man. You're right."

"What does that mean?" Ranboo whined. "What's wrong with pancakes."

"Nothing at all you giant simp!" Tommy howled in laughter. "Was it breakfast in bed?"

"Unfortunately, no." Tubbo had the decency to blush and Ranboo reached down to mess up his hair.

"See if I make you anything ever again. I can't believe this. I can't believe this." He muttered good-naturedly. This was as close to Tommy's blessing as he would ever get, Ranboo thought. Tommy had this uncanny ability to make anyone feel in on the joke, to feel important, even if it was only to entertain himself. Tubbo's head lolled against his leg and he couldn't fight his grin.

"You're not so bad, Ranboo," Tommy said. He was over the moon.  
\--

They took the train back that night. Tommy didn't have room for the both of them and Tubbo had said something about night-trains. 

They stole through the night, through endless silhouettes and smoking chimneys and blacker-than-black tunnels. The chill outside fogged the window and Tubbo had drawn out little stick figures. One very tall and one very small. Ranboo leaned into his space to swipe his finger between them, joining their hands.

"That ones you." Tubbo gestured to the taller one.

"I figured."

"And that ones me." He said sleepily. 

"Naturally."

"And," Tubbo yawned, pressing his nose into Ranboo's shoulder. "They're," the words seemed to peter out, drowned by the rattle of the train car.

"They're friends." Ranboo completed for him. Moonlight poured through the frosted pane, and Ranboo thought about that night when Tubbo had been so wreathed in silver. He still wanted it, to be known. If Tubbo could read him, he wouldn't have to say it. To find a way to pour all the messy feelings into words.

"Friends," Tubbo repeated. "Best friends." 

"Of course." He pushed Tubbo's hair out of his eyes gently, watching as his friend blinked against the starlight. 

Tubbo sat up a little from where he sagged against Ranboo, drawing out one last doodle on the window. A heart. Between them. "And now?"

Ranboo's face was hot. When he'd imagined Tubbo seeing into his head he hadn't accounted for this. He'd wanted to be understood, unspoken and easy. "Uhm."

"I think I like it better this way," Tubbo said, slow and sure. 

"Okay." 

Tubbo's hand nudged his own, pinky hooking around his. "You're trembling." 

"I am?" He was.

"Close your eyes. We'll be home soon." Tubbo whispered, making himself at home against him. "I know you're tired. Jet-lag, right?"

"Yeah." Ranboo breathed. "Jet-lag."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i said this would be the last but i can't put a confession and tommyinnit in the same chapter, sorry lol  
> if u want the last chapter u best give me kudos /hj


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the end?

Days with Tubbo were filled with nonsense. Sight-seeing, streaming, recording content and trying fish and chips on the pier. He had his sunglasses pulled down over his eyes and the sea breeze was blowing his hair back. The water stretched on infinitely, a lavender mirror reflecting the evening light. Tubbo had his crummy handheld camera and was squinting into the viewfinder, panning across the beach. 

"Seagull. Seagull. Oh! Seagull." He laughed. His ears were pinking with cold and his chin was tucked into that self-same hoodie. 

"This is excellent content, Tubbo. Really good." Ranboo couldn't keep the fondness from his voice.

"I know what the viewers want. Give us a smile, Ranboo." 

Ranboo pulled his mask up over his face and gave an indulgent thumbs-up to the camera. Tubbo's face was hidden behind the giant lense and he slid the focus a few times. 

"They'll go crazy for this." Tubbo grinned. "You look adorable."

A laugh bubbled out of him, and Ranboo turned back to the now-cold fries in his lap. Chips. Not fries. 

"S'true. Look at us, kind of romantic isn't it." Tubbo's voice was lilting with amusement. He was teasing. Ranboo's stomach did several nonconsensual somersaults. He chucked a fry at a seagull.

"I don't remember you asking me on a date." Ranboo retorted, summoning the last of his confidence.

Tubbo erupted into laughter and stumbled to his feet. "No." He extended a hand and Ranboo let the smaller boy hoist him up. Toe-to-toe, Tubbo's head had to tilt comically to meet his eyes. "C'mon let's skip stones. I'll teach you."

  
-

Nights were different. Ranboo knew that now. Tubbo's insomnia manifested itself in late-night wonderings and half-baked revelations about the world.  
On one such night, Tubbo hauled Ranboo out of bed and draped him in blankets. "Out the window with you," He said and slid it open. The shingles were freezing under his palms as he struggled to fit through. Out-of-breath and never more conscious of his height, Ranboo thudded into a pile of blankets.

Tubbo followed easily and clawed his way into Ranboo's pocket of warmth. Above them, the frigid sky stretched out beyond imagination.

"I'll be honest I don't know anything about astrologically," Tubbo admitted.

"Astronomy. No, me neither." 

"They are quite pretty, though."

"Yeah." 

Warmth pooled from Tubbo's bedroom, casting him in a golden back-light. Tubbo’s hair was over-steeped tea, deep brown and soft.“What are you thinking about?” Tubbo asked.

“Home,” Ranboo said absently. He’d given-up holding his tongue around Tubbo. There was a limit to it and it started and ended somewhere around holding hands on the way from the train station. 

“It’s creeping up on you, eh?” Tubbo said with the barest smile, just enough to cover the melancholy. The stars passed them by, blinking into little pinpricks of light and then nothing at all as Ranboo’s eyes fluttered shut.“Is it gonna be different now, you reckon?” Tubbo asked. “When you go home?”

Yes. No. It’s already different, Ranboo wanted to say. He opened his eyes. “Of course it will be.”

Tubbo deflated a little, a pout marring his features.

“I’m going to miss you. I missed you before, y’know.” Ranboo began unevenly. “But now I know everything.”

“Everything? You don’t know everything about me yet.”

“No, I guess not.” Ranboo hummed. “I guess not.”

“I don’t know everything about you, either. You’re very secretive, you know. I can never tell what you want.”

“What I want?”

Tubbo nodded, and his eyes were voids, taking in the moonlight and turning it to nothing. He couldn’t look away.

“I want to kiss you.” He said finally. And he knew there was supposed to be fear there, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care. Tubbo knew him. He wanted to —

Tubbo kissed like waking up. Warm and unsure and eager. It was over in a second, the warm hand on his jaw sliding back. Ranboo held it there for just a second longer, a reassurance that the whole thing had really happened. Tubbo’s pinky wound around his and he let their joined hands fall between them.

“I was waiting for you,” Tubbo whispered, voice jagged. “I thought maybe–“

“Again,” Ranboo asked, and Tubbo obliged him.

It was slow and easy and they had all the time in the world.   
—

There were a lot more streams after that.

There was also a lot more kissing.

Ranboo couldn’t find the feeling from before, that need to keep every moment of the trip for his own. They didn't tell the viewers, it wasn't for them. He didn’t need an excuse to stare at Tubbo. He didn’t need a reason more than he wanted to and Tubbo let him. More than let him.  
In the mornings, he stayed in bed and let Ranboo card his hands through his hair. He laughed at his own shitty jokes and let Ranboo kiss the corner of his smile. The static nervousness was all gone.

“You can’t keep kissing me,” Tubbo said on their last morning.

“Oh.” Ranboo dropped his hands to Tubbo’s shoulders. His hair was a mess and there was a high flush on his cheeks. “Did I,” He cleared his throat. “Is something wrong?”

“I’m going to miss it too much.”

Ranboo groaned and pushed Tubbo down against the pillows. “You’re so sappy. You are such a sap.” He grumbled. “Thought you were gonna cut your losses and set me free or something.”

“Christ. No. You’ll have to pry me off you at the airport.”

“Mmm. You could fit in the carry-on.”

“I know I should be offended but I’m more keen on your developing criminal mastermind.” Tubbo cheesed. “Tommy had it all wrong. I’m a bad influence on you.”

“You wish.”

“I am! You know you swore at dinner the other night.”

“I didn’t. Did I?”

“You did, I noticed.”

“Of course you noticed,” Ranboo said, leaning into Tubbo’s space. He bracketed his head with his elbows and dipped down to peck his lips. Nothing escaped Tubbo, not the way he held pencils funny or baulked at the idea of the tower of London or always kept one earbud out for him. Tubbo divulged these little peculiarities to him at night under cover of darkness, and Ranboo had never been so pleased to be aware of himself. It wasn’t so bad to be seen.

“It was always going to be you.” He said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and that's all folks. please leave me your thoughts and kudos as payment for my sanity.
> 
> i'm so grateful for the kindness and everything. don't know if i'll write another fic, i still feel uneasy. maybe!


	6. author's note

i just wanted to add that there is a follow up for those who haven't yet read it and i'm working on a conclusion as well :)

thank you for all the recent support and for reading.

i'm gonna continue posting exclusively fluff so i hope thats cool with everyone.

Sorry to anyone who thought this was an update, but there will be another fic tonight, as usual!

-train


End file.
